To choose my final images, I flagged all of the images I liked to put them into one place. I then colour coded the images to grade the to highlight my best images. Green being my favourite/best, and yellow being close to the best.

FINAL IMAGES:

This is one of my favourite images from all three shoots so far. I think that the composition of this image is almost perfect as the model fills the whole length of the frame and you are still able to see her figure. Furthermore, this image is very similar to my artist reference, Nancy Honey.

The natural lighting during this photoshoot made it challenging at times as the light was shining into the camera, however, I overcame this issue by changing my camera settings to make sure that it wasn’t over exposed. By doing this, when it came to editing these images I did not have to do much. Furthermore, I enjoyed staging this shoot by placing pillows in certain ways to create texture.

IMAGE COMPARISON/ ANALYSIS:

I chose to re-create this image of Nancy Honey’s as I believe it is a very strong image as it is a young girl trying on a bra with the label still on which suggests this could be her first bra. Furthermore, this image can be almost seen as the gate way into becoming sexualised through the male gaze. My version of this image is very similar as it both shows a bra from the back. However, in my image, the background is a wide open outside are which can be seen as scary to many people as it is the fear of the unknown.

Although the angle of these images aren’t quite the same, they both have many similarities. I like how within both images the models are making direct eye contact with the camera. By doing this, the models can be seen as strong individuals while they are opening up to the possibilities of being sexualised and being vulnerable.

EVALUATION:

I believe that my photoshoots have gone well. However, I could have benefited from taking more images which would allow me to have a larger variety of images. I think that I have stuck with the theme as well as my artist reference Nancy Honey. My next photoshoots will be more focused on my other artist which I have studied Cindy Sherman.

Plan:

I plan to take this shoot in the morning where there is morning sunlight shining into

Contact Sheet’s:

Editing Process:

Most of my images from this shoot are edited in a very similar way. I turned the ‘Highlights’ down for them which reduced some of the brightness from the bed sheets which allows the subject the be the main focus of the image. Furthermore, I increased the shadows in all of the images. By doing this, it creates more definition of the subjects features.

Photoshoot Evaluation:

I think this photoshoot came out really well. I enjoyed the challenges of this shoot which made me experiment with the camera as i was using natural lighting coming from behind the model, which was shining into the camera. Another reason why i think this photo shoot came out well was further experimenting with the positions of the model and using the sheets to create texture within the image.

Plan:

For this photoshoot I don’t have a specific plan of what i want to take images of. However, I have a model planned and I know where I want the photo shoot to be located. I want this shoot to be taken in a secluded area which feeds into the observe and seek theme of the project. I plan on using natural lighting for this shoot, and use the clouds in the sky to add some texture into the images.

Contact Sheet:

Editing Process:

Photo Shoot Two Evaluation:

This photoshoot did not come out as well as I expected as I did not take as many photos as I wanted to and didn’t really stick with my artist reference’s very well. However, out of the images I did get, I believe that they came out well. I came across a couple more challenges this day as I was working with just natural light which made my images quite dull and washed out.

Plan:

For this Photoshoot I am planning on doing it both inside and outside. The model will be in a bath robe by a window to re create an image taken by Nancy Honey, however I will also use the model in the bath robe to more position in different places including a garden and the beach to create my own interpretation of her work. For the images taken outside, I plan on using natural lighting and changing the appeture to manipulate the exposure and how much light is exposed to the camera.

Furthermore, i will also be conducting some images inside in a bedroom to recreate some of both Nancy Honey’s and Cindy Shermans images. An issue that i might come across is that the bedroom which I am planning to use lacks a lot of natural lighting therefore, I may have to resort to using the ceiling lights which may give off a slightly warm impression onto the camera. Another way in which I could overcome this issue is by experimenting with the cameras flash.

Location:

Contact Sheet:

Editing Process:

Editing Process:

When editing these images, I did come across an issue in which I did think would happen. When conducting the photos in the bedroom, the images did turn out with a warm tint. However, I managed to overcome this issue slightly through Adobe LightRoom. I reduced the ‘temperature’ of the image to make it more clear and reduce the orange tinge as much as I could without it looking bad. In addition, the images taken outside I used Lightroom to reduce the ‘highlights’ from the imaged to define some of the models features, for example, her collar bones.

Photoshoot One Evaluation:

Overall, I think that this photo shoot went well. I stuck to my artist reference for inspiration and believe that my images turned out good and the photos I have taken are clear and stick to the theme of observe, seek and challenge. However, this shoot could have been improved by taking more images which would allow me to have a wider selection to pick from and edit. I also think that the photo shoot could have further been improved by getting the model in more positions and poses which would also further increased the variety of images I would be able to pick from for my final images.

For my own interpretation of observe seek and challenge I am wanting to explore femininity and the photographic gaze, more specifically the male and female gaze. I will gaining inspiration from Nancy honey who presents her work through a documentary and portraiture style through the observation of typical female stereotypes. And also Cindy Sherman who uses her work to explore and embody the vulnerability of females and how her work could be feeding into the male gaze.

The definition of female gazes is “a feminist theory term referring to the gaze of the female spectator, character or director of an artistic work, but more than the gender it is an issue of representing women as subjects having agency. As such all genders can create films with a female gaze.” I chose this topic of the male gaze as it fits in with the exam theme of ‘Observe, Seek & Challenge’ as ‘the gaze’ is a form of seeking, and can be a very personal topic to many people.

For this final project, I would like to present my study in a photo book form. As a result of this, I intend to produce many photoshoots so that I will have a large variety of images that I can pick from. This means that, I would roughly need a minimum of 30 final images to create my book. I have plans to begin my study for this project as soon as possible to allow me the most amount of time to compete it.

Below are some mood boars from my two artist references; Nancy Honey and Cindy Sherman of whom I am gaining inspiration from:

Born in America in 1948, Nancy Honey began her career in England in a male dominated industry. Regardless of this, she manages to achieve success and started to build a name for herself as a photographer. Nancy Honey’s ‘woman to woman’ series was made nearly over 40 years ago, her images are based on her own experiences of being a woman which were driven by curiosity and focuses on topics such as motherhood, sexuality, power, and ageing in which she uses juxtapositions to depict schoolgirls to businesswomen and children to the elderly, and many more. By doing this, Honey creates a consistent flow throughout her work.

Nancy Honey’s work mainly includes the observation of the typical female stereotypes through her own view on femininity. She presents this by trying to capture “what it feels like, to me, to be a woman today”. Her photo-book is laid out in a triptych format which tend to have some abstract image beside portraits which have similar connotations with one another.

Daisy-

Nancy Honey’s Biography On The Project ‘Daisy’

This is a large collection of pictures I made with my daughter, Daisy over many years. I became fascinated with photographing her as I emerged as a photographic artist. She and I did it together and it was something I greatly enjoyed. It started when she was a year old and I was just beginning to then use my little black and white camera to document events, more or less as a diary. I was finally beginning to learn about the technical side of photography, which I’d always loved, but had been intimidated by the science.

I had always been an artist, but mostly used painting and drawing, having initially studied Fine Art in the USA. After having children I was desperate to complete my education and finished with a degree in Visual Communication at Bath Academy of Art in Wiltshire. I learned about photography there as well as typography and printmaking. I continued to make pictures of Daisy over many years and included her in every project I could. My son, Jesse, declared that making pictures together was boring early on and therefore I made far less which included him.

The project, which was never a formal one, just kept evolving. She was very good natured and patient and rarely refused.The Independent on Saturday Magazine, published an article in 2002, which covers these photographs and our time together. When she left home the arrangement, by then mostly for commercial work, had to be more formal. The project more or less finished after Billy, her first child was born and she was very busy and lived out of town. I still photograph her and her children often, but the pictures are not made in the same manner.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

https://nancyhoney.com/major-projects/woman-to-woman/

https://nancyhoney.com/about/#overlay-bio

https://nancyhoney.com/major-projects/daisy/

Cindy Sherman is an American photographer and artist who plays on the female stereotypes. Her Untitled Film Stills includes over seventy black and white images which were made between 1977 and 1980. This series embodies the disguise, mystery, voyeurism and vulnerability in which women hold. Her work could be viewed as feeding into the ‘Male Gaze’ due to a handful of her images being staged in a heterosexual perspective which could be viewed as sexualising women. Cindy Sherman embodied many different roles while creating her photo series, she styled many of the models clothes, hair and makeup wile also being her own model.

Cindy Sherman has always experimented with different identities. Just after she moved to New York, she produced her Untitled Film Still series (1977–80) , in which she used disguises and photographed herself in many different location settings with a conscious understanding of what props she wanted to use to create scenes which resembled those from mid-20th-century movies. These images rely on female characters such as the jaded seductress, the unhappy housewife, the jilted lover, and the vulnerable naïf. Cindy Sherman used cinematic understanding to structure these photographs. The untitled series immediately became topics of conversations about feminism, postmodernism, and representation, and they remain some of her best-known work.

https://artlead.net/journal/modern-classics-cindy-sherman-untitled-film-stills/

Image Analysis:

Many pictures of Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills show situations that can come across as uncomfortable, promiscuous since it show a depicted woman in a vulnerable position. Cindy Sherman confronts people with the negative implications of the way the media depicts women especially in movies through the way she positions herself in her images which leaves an open door for men to objectify the female body. The male gaze is often present in her but she subtly changes the perspectives, expressions, and circumstances.

This mood board has been inspired by some of the photographers I saw in a photography exhibition in Paris. it includes images by Rene Groebil, Robert Mapplethorpe, Ralph Gibson and Cindy Sherman plus many more.

Observe: (verb)

1. To notice or perceive (something) and register it as being significant.

“she observed that all the chairs were already occupied”

2. To make a remark.

“‘It’s chilly,’ she observed”

3. fulfil or comply with (a social, legal, ethical, or religious obligation).

“a tribunal must observe the principles of natural justice”

Seek: (verb)

verb: seek; 3rd person present: seeks; past tense: sought; past participle: sought; gerund or present participle: seeking

1. The attempt to find (something).

“they came here to seek shelter from biting winter winds”

2. ask for (something) from someone.

“he sought help from the police”

3. search for and find someone or something.

“it’s his job to seek out new customers”

Challenge: (noun)

1. A call to someone to participate in a competitive situation or fight to decide who is superior in terms of ability or strength.

“he accepted the challenge”

2. A call to prove or justify something.

“a challenge to the legality of the banning order”

verb:

1. invite (someone) to engage in a contest. “he challenged one of my men to a duel”
2. 2.dispute the truth or validity of.”it is possible to challenge the report’s assumptions”

Below I have created a mind map of words in which associate with the theme of observe, seek and challenge. By doing this I have come up with many things that I could do for my project.